


Far Beneath a Concrete Star

by changeapproved



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 15:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17831513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/changeapproved/pseuds/changeapproved
Summary: Confused and disoriented, the Doctor wakes up to a familiar face in an unfamiliar dungeon.





	Far Beneath a Concrete Star

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

The Doctor awoke with a groan.

 

"How 'm I s'posed to sleep with all that noise?" Or at least that was what she tried to say. Even to her own mind it sounded like garbled nonsense.

 

"I don't think you are, sweetie."

 

The Doctor's brows furrowed and the pounding in her head grew louder. She knew that voice. Didn't she?

 

"Open your eyes."

 

Yes. She definitely knew that voice.

 

"Don't want to," she said, every word scraped over her throat like broken glass.

 

"Well we're never getting out of here if you don't. I can't do all the work for you."

 

A dull grate of metal over stone reverberated through her skull and she swallowed against her dry throat. Get out of where? She should know this, shouldn't she?

 

With every passing second a new pain in her no longer new body made itself known. An ache spread through her arms all the way to her wrists, which it seemed were suspended above her head somehow. _Not good_.

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

All right. She could do this. Of course she could. Just needed to...

 

She blinked her eyes open and closed a few times. The room was fuzzy. Weird thing for a room to be, fuzzy. Or maybe her head was fuzzy?

 

"That's it, love. You can do it."

 

With a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and this time forced herself to keep them open. It was dark. And still fuzzy. And then a face swam in front of hers, just a little too close for comfort. She inhaled sharply and couldn't quite stop the deep cough that rattled deep within her because of it.

 

The coughing dwindled as her eyes slowly began to adjust to the limited lighting. Then she blinked once more just to check that what she was seeing was real.

 

"River?"

 

"In the flesh."

 

Her mouth fell open and the vision of River smiled down at her.

 

"What are you doing here?" The Doctor looked around at the tiny stone cell in confusion. "Come to think of it, what am _I_ doing here?"

 

The corners of River's lips tightened - they always did when she was worried, the Doctor thought idly. Then she regretted thinking anything at all as a sharp bolt of pain flashed across her head.

                                                                                               

"You don't remember?"

 

"Can you get my sonic from my pocket?"

 

"They took your coat."

 

The Doctor sighed. Of course. _They_ , whoever they were, would have taken her coat if they were going to hold her prisoner, wouldn't they? Metal clanged against the wall as she tried to pull herself free from her restraints. She huffed when they barely budged.

 

"Calm down," said River, in a voice that demanded no argument. "You know how slow you get when you panic."

 

The Doctor turned her attention back to her wife. Her _dead_ wife. And how was that even possible? Did she not have enough to deal with right now?

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

"Why are you here, River?"

 

"You know me," said River, with a sad little smile. "How's a girl to resist this kind of chaos? I wasn't expecting to bump into you down here though, love. It's a bit 'damsel-in-distress', don't you think?"

 

Damsel. The Doctor had heard River call her that before. Had that happened yet? Did River have her diary with her? And -

 

The Doctor's musings were cut off when she suddenly noticed the stench. Like damp, human waste and a hundred unwashed bodies all crammed together in their tiny cell.

 

" _Ugh_."

 

"I know," said River, wrinkling her own nose in disgust. "I don't think much of the accommodations here. I hope they have a comment card to fill in on our way out. I have some choice words for our hosts."

 

Hosts. Right. Someone was holding her captive. And River captive apparently? That was strange. She was usually better at this, wasn't she? It was so hard to think though and her head was filled with cotton wool and what kind of creature could fill a Time Lord's head with cotton wool?

 

"Doctor."

 

Her eyes had drifted closed and she wasn't sure when it had even happened. Not a big fan of sleep, she thought, but maybe a quick nap would do her some good.

 

"Doctor. Don't you dare fall asleep on me!"

 

  _Drip. Drip. Drip_.

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Next time the Doctor woke up her head felt somewhat clearer. Unfortunately, that clarity also brought into stark relief the poor condition her body was in. She huffed in annoyance; that was going to make her grand escape a bit harder. Had someone _kicked her_ while she was unconscious? That was so not cool.

 

"Back with me, Sleeping Beauty?"

 

Right. _River_. Her head definitely wasn't clear enough to unravel that riddle. It probably never would be.

 

"Yep," she said. Her mouth tasted terrible and she grimaced. "I think so anyway. Don't like it much though."

 

"No, I don't suppose you would."

 

The Doctor pried her eyes open to look at her wife. Her perfect, maddening, clever wife. For a moment the pain of every wound faded away and the only ache she could feel radiated outwards from her chest. She longed to reach out and hold the woman in front of her. Maybe run her fingers once more through those soft, golden curls. Loneliness and grief, the Doctor acknowledged, were the real killers.

 

River smiled sadly at her as though she'd somehow heard her dismal musings. Maybe she could read her mind these days. Who knew?

 

The Doctor cleared her throat and looked away. "So is there a reason you haven't got me out of these manacles yet? Isn't escaping kind of your thing?" She attempted to pull her hands away from the wall again, but they remained firmly fastened there.

 

"Usually," said River, with a shrug. "They took all my tools."

 

"I see you managed to get out of your own restraints just fine," said the Doctor, not quite buying the story. River just shot her an enigmatic grin.

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

"There's only room for one of us to be chained up in here, and I expect they decided you were the bigger threat to security, love."

 

It was hard to argue with that logic, but she was still a bit miffed all the same.

 

"Do you at least have an escape plan?"

 

"I always have an escape plan," said River, with a wicked smile that the Doctor couldn't help but return. "Unfortunately they all require our captors popping in for a quick visit. So far they've been disinclined to do so."

 

"Sontaran's are like that," said the Doctor without thinking. "Don't really like to play with their food. More of a wham, bam, thank you, ma'am type." She saw River pull a face at her choice of words. "Oh sontarans! _That's_ who captured me."

 

"That's the one, sweetie."

 

The Doctor frowned, wracking her brain for more information. Things were becoming foggy again. "They must want me for something or I'd be dead by now."

 

"And who could blame them for wanting you?" said River. She grinned and allowed her eyes to rove down the Doctor's new(ish) body.

 

"Stop it," said the Doctor, not even remotely meaning it. She hadn't really thought about it directly, but she'd be lying if she said she hadn't given a passing consideration to how River might receive this new her. "You're not allowed to do that when I can't even move."

 

River let out a low, dirty chuckle. "Oh, sweetie. That's the _best_ time to 'do that'."

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

"Well...you would say that wouldn't you." The Doctor tried to blow some strands of hair away from her flushed face. "You and a pair of handcuffs...greatest love story in the universe."

 

"Second only to the love story between an old man and her stolen blue box, don't you think?" said River, her eyebrow quirking. "Oh if the walls of that box could talk..."

 

"They did once. Did I tell you?" A bleary darkness was starting to creep around the edge of her vision now. Something just short of panic gripped at her hearts; she _really_ didn't want to fall asleep again.

 

"You did," said River. Her eyebrows contracted in concern. "Tell me again though."

 

"Uh...right. There was a house...called Planet." The Doctor groaned in frustration. "No that's not right. Go back and reverse it."

 

"That's right," said River. She shuffled forward on her knees so they were almost nose to nose. "Come on. What happened next?"

 

The Doctor's eyes flickered closed and she forced herself to open them again. Her head began to pound like something was knocking on her forehead, but from the inside somehow. _No no, no no_. "River..."

 

Her wife sighed and raised a hand up to the Doctor's cheek, stopping just shy of actually touching.

 

"It's okay, love. I'll be here when you wake up again. I promise."

 

"But I don't want..."

 

The darkness pulled her back under.

 

\------------------------------------------------

 

"What happened to my friends?"

 

The Doctor had woken with a strangled gasp and only one thought on her mind. How could she have forgotten them? Guilt gnawed at her stomach and she squirmed...or maybe it was hunger. Who even knew how long she'd been trapped there.

 

"I expect they're in the TARDIS," said River. The Doctor's head snapped up and she flinched. _Ouch_. "I haven't heard anything about them from our captors."

 

"That's...good. Maybe?" Her voice cracked. No it was definitely guilt. "Do you think? They're probably safe. The TARDIS will take them home. There's um..."

 

"Safety protocols, yes," said River. Her expressive, green eyes were full of sympathy; the Doctor hated it. "My primary concern right now is how _we're_ going to get home. They took my vortex manipulator."

 

"Cheap and-"

 

"-nasty time travel, yes, yes." River rolled her eyes. "Honestly, dear, it's time to change that broken record."

 

"Can't. Stuck in my brain forever now. Should be stuck in your brain too. Meant to be my dutiful wife, aren't you?"

 

River let out a bark of a laugh. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

 

Despite the increasing direness of their situation, the Doctor allowed herself the shadow of a smile. If she could have chosen one person in the universe to end up trapped in a cell with, it would have been River.

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

\-----------------------------------------------

 

The Doctor woke up in fits and starts after that. She tried to keep track of it, she really did, but the more time passed the fuzzier her head became. It was becoming more and more difficult to remain conscious for longer than a few minutes at a time. River did her best to keep the conversation light, but the Doctor could tell she was growing worried.

 

"I'm loving the new face, by the way."

 

"Yeah? I hoped you would."

 

"Your clothes on the other hand...well we can work on those later."

 

The Doctor harrumphed. "I'll have you know my new mates love my clothes."

 

"They said that?"

 

"Well not in so many words..."

 

"I see."

 

"They said it with their faces! I can read faces. I speak...face."

 

"You most certainly cannot. You're an expert in many things, sweetie, but facial cues are not one of them."

 

"You've said that before and you're as wrong now as you were then."

 

It was almost enough to distract her from the way the dark haze over her vision never fully lifted anymore.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

 

"You don't even seem cold."

 

Constant shivers had taken over her whole body now and when she slept she dreamt of sliding down a cliff towards a bottomless, icy void. River was still convinced they were going to get themselves out of this sorry mess, like they always did. The Doctor felt her own conviction slipping away.

 

"That's because I'm not," said River with a sigh. She didn't seem even a little worse for wear for their lengthy stay in this bleak little hole. Not even a beautiful blonde curl out of place. "You're suffering from blood loss."

 

"Mmm," said the Doctor. That sounded about right. Maybe. Was her voice slurred? "I've missed you, River."

 

She couldn't really make out the details of her wife's face anymore in the pervasive darkness, but she was sure there was a smile there.

 

"I've missed you too, sweetie. You've always known where I am if you need me."

 

"Mmhmm. Off marrying King Hydroflax. Or Cleopatra. Or Stephen Fry. That one was a bit of a surprise. Didn't think you were his type."

 

"I'm everyone's type. Or he may have thought I was a drag queen." River smirked. "Honestly, there was an _excessive_ amount of alcohol involved. Not unlike our eighteenth wedding really."

 

The Doctor laughed. Or maybe it was a sob. Either way it hurt.

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Bright lights flashed before her closed eyes and somewhere in the back of her consciousness she could dimly make out the sound of yelling...and crashing. She sucked in a deep breath and then regretted it when she began to cough. Was that gunpowder she could smell?

 

She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

 

It was then that she realised she was moving. No. Someone was moving her. Her arms no longer hung above her head, but instead rested somewhere flat. No. Not rested. She was being dragged somewhere.

 

As suddenly as she woke up, previously unacknowledged pain shot through her limbs and she moaned.

 

"Doctor? Doctor!"

 

That was her name. Yes. "River?" she just about managed to mumble.

 

There was a pause. "Doctor? We need you to wake up."

 

Nope. That didn't sound like something she could do right now. Whoever was carrying her tripped and her knees slammed into the floor. _Ow_. Then she was up again, feet trailing along the ground. Wasn't the sontarans, she thought vaguely. They wouldn't want her awake. Didn't sound like River either. Where was she?

 

"Doctor, _please_ wake up." A woman's voice. She sounded desperate. Maybe she should at least try to open her eyes?

 

That crashing sound was getting louder now.

 

"Doctor, we _need_ you." A not woman's voice, that one. A man? Yeah that was it. A man. " _Help us_."

 

She opened her eyes. "Stop," she said. Or tried to. The voices heard her and slowed down enough for her to find her footing, despite every muscle in her legs screaming not to. She looked up. "Ryan?"

 

Ryan looked at her with such relief she could have cried. She turned her head, because he wasn't the only one holding her upright.

 

"And Yaz."

 

"We've got you, Doctor," said Yaz. Unlike Ryan, who looked fearful, Yaz's chin was set forward with determination and her gait was steady. "We need to move faster though. This whole place is coming down."

 

"Whole place," she muttered, mostly to herself. A million questions burned through her head. "What 'bout River?"

 

She felt more than saw her two rescuers exchange a look over her head. "The nearest river's not for a few miles," said Yaz. She sounded out of breath. "The TARDIS is close though."

 

"Just a bit further," Ryan encouraged.

 

Her eyes fell shut then, but she moved her legs as best she could so as not to drag her young friends down with her. She trusted them to steer her where she needed to go. They came back for her didn't they? Even though it was dangerous. And _stupid_.

 

"You must really like me," she said. Thankfully, as she'd have regretted it later if they had, Yaz and Ryan didn't hear her incoherent murmurings.

 

After what felt like an age, and several awkward stumbles later, they turned a corner and the Doctor heard another voice.

 

"Ryan! Yaz! I got it!"

 

Graham?

 

"We got her," Ryan called back.

 

The Doctor's body begged for respite, but she kept going. There was something there now in the back of her head. A niggling feeling. Something calming and familiar.

 

A few more steps forward and she recognised it.

 

The TARDIS was calling her home.

 

\------------------------------------------

 

When the Doctor came to, it was not to the dank stench of the long forgotten or to the impenetrable darkness she had come to expect. Nor could she hear a nearby drip drip dripping of water against a hard, stone floor just far enough out of sync with her hearts to drive her mad. Her throat still felt dry and her body still ached, but not with anywhere near the fervency it had done for the last...however long it had been.

 

Instead, she lay on her back on something soft and beneath her eyelids she could just about make out a gentle yellow lighting. She breathed in - disinfectant and a sort of...limey smell. And tea? Maybe? Best of all, she registered, a deep thrumming of engines. It hummed low and consistent and she felt it vibrating deep within her bones. Her hearts skipped a beat and a warmth spread through her body in a way she was sure had little to do with the temperature.

 

"Doc?"

 

It was then that she noticed her hands were not her own. Or they were...sort of. Fingers bigger than her own were linked between hers. She squeezed and the other hand squeezed back.

 

"You're awake."

 

With great difficulty, the Doctor opened her eyes. She blinked a few times while they adjusted to the light around her. Thankfully, her companion seemed happy to wait in silence while she got her bearings.

 

"Graham," she said, finally.

 

He smiled down at her, eyes kind and patient and just a bit glassy. Good old Graham.

 

"You gave us a bit of a fright, you know?" he said. For a moment she wondered why he was talking so quietly, then she spotted Ryan and Yaz sleeping in chairs at the other side of her bed. So she was in the TARDIS medbay, she noted. "Gone for all that time and then we almost had you back to the TARDIS before you went and keeled over on us."

 

"Sorry," she said. Her memories were a bit fuzzy around the edges. "I don't remember."

 

"That's okay," said Graham. Then with faux sternness added, "Just don't do it again, all right? I thought you'd popped your clogs or something right before my heroic rescue."

 

"Nah. Take more than..." She stopped. Why couldn't she remember? "Whatever it was they did to me to take me down."

 

"Well I can see that," he said, though he didn't seem very happy about it. "You're a tough old bird."

 

The Doctor snorted out a quiet laugh that hurt the back of her throat. Never been called that one before.

 

"How long was I gone for?"

 

For a moment it looked as though Graham wasn't going to answer, then he shook his head. "They had you for about a week, we think. The TARDIS took us back home, like you told it to I suppose?" She nodded. "Yaz wouldn't give up though. You know what she's like." He smiled in that fond, grandfatherly sort of way he usually reserved for Ryan. "She managed to get the thing up and running again and then between us we managed to convince it to bring us back to you." The Doctor breathed out something like a huff. She and the TARDIS would be having words about that later. Safety protocols existed for a reason. "You've been asleep here for two days."

 

The Doctor took some time to soak that in. She tried to focus on the rhythmic beating of her hearts; they had become somewhat erratic during her stay with the sontarans and it was comforting to feel them back at full strength. At least she'd had-

 

The Doctor sat bolt upright. The light blanket that had been draped over her pooled around her waist.

 

"Woah!" Graham jerked forward and put his free hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

 

"Where's River?"

 

So much for her steady heartbeats.

 

"Calm down, Doc." Graham frowned and she felt his hand around hers tighten. "Who's River?"

 

She blinked, processing this. "She was with me. In the cell."

 

"There wasn't anyone with you in the cell, Doctor."

 

The Doctor swivelled her head around. Yaz was awake (when had that happened?) and she was looking at her with a concern that set the Doctor's teeth on edge.

 

"There was. Woman, green eyes and massive hair. You couldn't miss her!" She could feel it again. The rising _panic_ that felt so different in this body than it ever had in her last thirteen. Her fingers twitched and she had to fight the urge to pull her hands back towards her chest. " _Please_ tell me we didn't leave River behind." Not _again_.

 

"There was nobody with you," said Yaz, quiet but insistent. Beside her, Ryan awoke with a start. "We checked for other people. It was just you."

 

"But that..." the Doctor trailed off. "No. That's not..." It wasn't possible. Was it?

 

Her head was starting to feel heavy again, just like it had in the dungeon. Her friends exchanged _looks_ that made her feel very small and very stupid. River couldn't have left. _Wouldn't_ have left.

 

 _Oh_.

 

Her eyes drifted closed and she let the gentle pressure Graham had on her shoulder push her back down onto the bed. Her whole body felt weighted down and just this once she actually allowed herself to feel it for a moment.

 

"Are you okay, Doc?"

 

Then the moment was over and she plastered on a smile. "I'll be fine once I've had a nap. Promise. Great job on the rescue by the way, fam. Sorry. I should have said that earlier. Thanks for coming for me."

 

There was a pause.

 

"We're just glad you're okay." Ryan. Tentative and unsure. Maybe she should try smiling harder.

 

"I'm always okay," said the Doctor. "Head's just a bit muddled, is all." And all the other stuff too, but that wasn't really important. She'd heal. Mostly already had.

 

"The TARDIS said you'd been drugged," said Yaz. Hot tears welled behind her closed eyelids. _Drugged_. "Well...after we convinced her to change the screen displays to English. What were all those circ-"

 

"Not now, love," Graham cut her off quietly. The Doctor wasn't sure how to express her gratitude in words so she squeezed his hand. "The Doc needs her rest."

 

"Right," said Yaz. "Course." The Doctor felt a hand on her arm and then a set of lips brushed against her temple. "I'm so glad you're back with us."

 

"We missed you," said Ryan. Had they? That was nice. "Sheffield weren't the same without you."

 

"I missed you too," the Doctor managed around the ball of emotion wedged in her throat.

 

She could feel them hovering awkwardly around her then, nobody quite sure what to do. Then Graham cleared his throat.

 

"Why don't you two go to bed," he suggested. "It's been a long few days." They didn't want to; the Doctor could tell. "I'll stay here with the Doc for now and when you wake up we can swap, all right?"

 

"All right," said Yaz, begrudgingly. The Doctor felt the blanket she'd lost being pulled back up to her shoulders and tucked around her. When she woke again, she'd remember her friend's actions with fondness. "Good night, Doctor. Sleep well."

 

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?" said Ryan. "I started a list of places I wanna go next."

 

The Doctor hummed with what she hoped sounded like agreement and then listened as the sound of footsteps faded from the room. Just she and Graham were left.

 

The need for sleep pulled at her and she desperately wanted to succumb to it. At least the ache of longing in her chest would be gone while she was unconscious. If she was lucky or unlucky she might even dream of...

 

She forced herself to open her eyes and Graham smiled down at her in a way that made her want to cry.

 

"Don't worry, Doc," he said. "You don't have to explain yourself to me." She nodded, because right then that was all she felt capable of doing. "And I'm sorry about whoever it was you lost." She swallowed and nodded again, because of course Graham would understand. "Maybe one day you can tell me about her?"

 

"Maybe," said the Doctor, voice weak and insubstantial.

 

Perhaps Graham knew she was lying, because his soft smile faded. "Get some sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

 

"Promise?" she said without thinking.

 

"Promise."

 

With Graham's hand still in hers and feeling safer than she had in over a week, the Doctor could almost pretend she wasn't entirely alone in the universe. She stopped fighting herself and allowed the sound of the TARDIS engines lull her into a fitful sleep.

 

_You are always here to me._

 

_And I always listen._

_And I always see you._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading to the end and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Also my tumblr account is change-approved so if anyone wants to swing by to chat about Doctor Who/River/writing please do :-)


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